Saturday, 8 October 2011

"Morning Train(nine to five)"

The title really has nothing to do with this other than to me. Go with it.

This was really crisis averted. Every building seems to have units that are less desirable than others. Thankfully now, we renovate our way out of these problems. Yeah, its ground accessible, but try to find an apartment that looks this good somewhere else.

She took this unit before we started that program. I painted it nicely, but the kitchen and bath was nasty. Still is actually.

So she moves in. She actually moved in right after 'Darling Vikki' from page one moves out.

A few days go by and we get this huge long, hand written letter under our door. It listed every little thing that was wrong with her apartment. That list included, but was not limited to:

1. The toilet handle jiggles
2. The ceiling fan is loud(I'll grant her this one. I replace them out as part of our new program) There is nothing I can do without ripping a huge chunk out of the ceiling.
3. There was some dirt in the bathroom drawers
4. There is a brass plate on the front door that is loose.
5. The flooring does not continue underneath her stove

There was a few more on the list that I can't remember. I ended up ripping it up in front of her.

So I get nominated to go and talk to her. I go over the list with her and she says to me, "and what recourse do I have if the work is not done to my satisfaction?"

Wrong. Fucking. Question.

So I tell her that she is not my client. When I work in condos downtown, you get to ask that. No one does PS...my shit looks pimp, but anyway.

So, I ask the big question.

"What are we really trying to accomplish here? Do you want out of your lease?"

Keep in mind, she has lived there a week.

"If that was an option, then yes, I would like to move."

We hadn't been here that long, and were kinda learning on the run, so I buy some time. We happened to be having a meeting with the owners the next day, and that meeting was vital.

We bring it up, and he says that yes, if she's going to be an issue, then my god get rid of her. Furthermore guys-you have our support. We will always back you. If you make a decision that is in our best interests, whether ultimately right or wrong, we support it.

Fuck yeah! That's a system I can work with. After that meeting, our attitude changed dramatically. Not that we went off on seeing how far we could go on that. Not at all. In fact, it almost did the opposite. When someone hands you carte blanche to run with it, the last thing you want to do is ever change that attitude. The only thing you can ever do is screw it up.

She had been pestering us with the hand written notes, and was one of those people that wanted everything done by the book. We told her that she could move, pending us finding someone to rent her apartment. She wanted everything written and signed-basically a document that let her off the hook for the apartment.

So back down I go to talk to her again.

Her mother worked for a PM company, but not as a PM and was there for my conversation. I told them both, that I'm not signing shit. Also, you can sit there saying that I need to give you 24 hours notice to show your apartment, and you are right. I can also say no, I'm not letting you out of your lease, and you can sit here and rot for the next 11 months in an apartment that you hate until you are allowed to move. I'm doing you a favor. Even more, all of this could have been solved with a phone call. You go to move in, and you aren't happy with its cleanliness-call me! I could have had someone clean it in 2 hours.

The mother is just sitting there nodding her head. She finally gets that I'm not a push over and I do actually know how to handle this situation.

And, as soon as she was a member of the building, she was gone. One of the 2 tenants that did 30 day stints.

The funny thing was, she was kind of like this dull girl, with no social life. Lived with her cat,and dressed kinda frumpy.

She kind of reminded me of my ex-girlfriend. After she left, I turned to Dino and said, "you know, as much as I'm happy she's gone, I kind of have this overwhelming urge to move in with her for 6 years."